Equilibrium
by Sougen-san
Summary: A new story of starcraft where all will be explained in time.
1. Dead Sky

Starcraft: Equilibrium  
  
Prologue: Dead sky  
  
The sky is dead. That is what we call the sky now ever since we were stationed here from the long voyage from Earth, Dead. I guess it would be our fault for making the sky this way from our constant urge to construct things but it IS necessary to our survival, and the survival of others as well. I ran a hand through my thick red hair and sighed as this thought brought on the inevitable second.  
  
'One day our own ways will be the end of us, I know that and I'm pretty sure everyone else does to but its enough that it keeps us alive in the here and now.' I thought with some disdain as I looked down at the Commanders pips blazed into my standard Ghost armor that me and several other of my men wear proudly, my emerald green eyes make a beeline to my shoulders that have the crimson paint to show that this is MY army and these are men under MY command. I take a fleeting glance at the letters emblazed on the right side of my chest and see the name that has killed so many and shed so much blood, C. Angelfire, I look at the ground and sigh.  
  
'This is me, I am I, and I am Crono Angelfire, Commander of the red Terren faction of Earth, enlisted by the Confederate Ghost Program to eradicate all Zerg and opposing alien forms alike.' I finish my own little mental dialogue as I try to remind myself as I do everyday I am in this war, why I am here and what I am fighting for.  
  
A fleeting thought takes me to the elven princess I've encountered so long ago it seems now. I still think of her even to this day, it seems that I am only human, and she is only elven. Strange to think such a thing is real but its as real as I am now. Or even the Protoss Lucrata Nexarii that I have come across, the right hand of Tassadar some of my men called her. The mother of Tassaiundar and an excellent fighter, I can't wait till I test her strength yet again.  
  
But until they make a false move and try to destroy us we will be allies for the time being I suppose its much easier that way and the Protoss make formidable allies against the zerg onslaught.  
  
I take another look out over the scorched plains of the Tarsonis world torn apart by the trampling feet of Protoss, Zerg and Terren alike as I sit concealed here in this bunker, I wonder if they will come soon, and I also wonder if I will live to survive this impending battle.  
  
I stand up and take one last look before I hear the familiar footsteps of the next shift coming in to take over my job as they do everyday.  
  
"Commander." They say to me as they give a quick salute before stepping past me and setting up their guns in the bunkers port holes, loaded and ready for the next assault. I feel like I have to say something, but as I look at their turned backs focused on only one thing and one thing only I can't hope to think that hope is lost.  
  
I turned and left the bunker out into the open space of the hastily made outpost I set up on landing.  
  
I've been here awhile now, I came to Tarsonis to check out for a month or two to go back to earth and see how the new experiment so going, but as soon as my ships entered the Tarsonis air space we received a distress signal stating that the Zerg were attacking in great numbers and they wouldn't be able to hold them off for long, immediate help was defiantly required.  
  
I being I couldn't refuse, and now I was here. Looking up into the dead sky wondering if we'll live to see the next day.  
  
I continued looking up into that sky and resisting the urge to shout in frustration, I walked back to command.  
  
Observation Deck, Tarsonis Outpost.  
  
I lit up one of my smokes and conceal the pack under my shoulder armor as I sit down in my chair in my observation deck above the command deck to survey the scene and information transmitted around me and think. I think about the impending attack that I KNOW is going to happen soon and a thought comes to me as I take a puff of the deadly but intoxicating smoke.  
  
Everything is always quiet just before an attack, like try to imagine for a split second that everything freezes seemingly for one long moment and then starts up again. That is the signal of an impending attack, I feel it, they feel it and we all feel it on some conscious level. Wither or not it is because of the Zerg embryo in all of us, we do not know but I guess you could say we feel them coming.  
  
As I looked over all of the men and women fighting for what they believe in and all of the minds nearly lost and continually on the verge of mental break, I smile and take another drag.  
  
I smile because despite all of this, they will fight. They will fight to the very core of there being, to the last shred of life flowing through there veins and till the last bullet is spent or the last man cries out in victory or defeat, they will fight.  
  
So when the tell tale sign of attack happened, my emerald eyes lit up with excitement and I butted out my smoke. I had only three words running through my head as I placed my two forefingers together in front of my lips in my trademark game face as I watched the upper screen change from its normal level three yellow to level eight red.  
  
'Let them come.'  
  
End Of Prologue. 


	2. The Smoking Guns Of Salvation

Starcraft: Equilibrium  
  
Chapter 1: The Smoking Guns of Salvation  
  
Tarsonis battlefield, after the storm.  
  
I puffed the cigarette I held in my two fingers letting the toxic smoke fill my lungs making me slightly light headed, but that didn't stop the grin that appeared on my face as I put a hand, still clenching my handgun since I lost my rifle somewhere, up against a dead Zergling to steady myself.  
  
Only one thing mattered to me at this moment, we had won. We had fought, we had killed and we had won the battle on Tarsonis.  
  
I fell against the dead Zergling assured that I shot it to hell and rested my head against its thick hide as I felt the wounds I got from the battle start to flare up with pain.  
  
I took another drag and stared up into the dead sky.  
  
I checked myself for injuries and was pleased to find that I only had a scraped forearm, given to me ever so kindly by a jumping hydralisk just giving me enough time to roll away before I got away with a scrape.  
  
How it jumped I'll probably never know, but continuing I got one stab wound in my lower side, thanks to my little friend behind me, and I couldn't see out of one eye for some reason, but I'm sure the damage was repairable because I myself was keeping my eye shut to stop the blood from getting in.  
  
And I believe my helmet must've got knocked off sometime in the middle or I wouldn't be trying to close my eye.  
  
But all of this didn't matter any more as I heard the familiar sounds of a dropship flying in the distance and getting closer.  
  
It all didn't matter because of one thing; we had won. I could still feel myself gripping the handgun and concentrated on relaxing its still smoking barrel, my left eye twitched as I tried to let go, as I felt a flare of pain in my hand.  
  
I looked down.  
  
"It's because my gun is fused to my hand." I said absently as I could see the red hot metal of the gun melt through my glove into the palm of my hand.  
  
I tilted my head back against the Zergling and smiled as I closed my eyes and ignored the searing pain of metal and skin melting as I heard the dropship overhead coming to pick me up.  
  
That was a slaughter.  
  
**Tarsonis Outpost, The Storm Three Hours into the Battle**  
  
Everything seems silent and still when the screams of pain overshadow the horrifying sounds of the zergling race. It seems so surreal you begin to imagine you are either blind or dead and don't know it.  
  
SCREE!!!!!!!!!  
  
Bam!  
  
'Release' I looked down at the dead zergling before I raised my hnd in the air and thrust it forward.  
  
"CHARGE!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as the zergling's and hydralisks were doing to same.  
  
All of my cloaked soldiers of steel moved past me as swift as the wind firing suppressed shots into the zerglings killing as many at point blank range as they could before the floating beasts known as the overlords could disable there cloaking and clear the zergs senses.  
  
"Commander! Your left!" I heard someone from behind me shout as I drew my gun to my left the barrel colliding with the head of a zergling knocking me down as I fired a round into it causing a spray of blood to splash across my face.  
  
I pushed the vile creature off me as I winced and felt my lower ribcage with my hand to feel a wetness down there.  
  
I raised my hand to my face to see my hand covered in a thick crimson liquid.  
  
'I bleed just as they all do.' My mind told me lazily as I looked over the battlefield to the approaching overlords.  
  
I reached into my shoulder armor and extracted a small radio.  
  
"Command this is Commander Angelfire, are the nukes launched yet?" I asked as the overlords got closer and the furiousity of the zerg got louder.  
  
"Nukes set to launch, Commander, waiting for your order." The radio replied as I looked out over the distance to were I set up my outpost.  
  
"Launch them now!" I yelled into the radio as I crouched down to the massive rifle that was set up in front of me and looked through the scope to adjust the aim.  
  
I clicked my radio on again and set it to broadcast to all frenquency.  
  
"Incoming Nuke! Get the hell out of there!" I shouted into the radio as the ghosts down below stopped firing and started running towards the base.  
  
BOOM!  
  
I sound of the nuke launching high into the air could be felt as the ground shook slightly, the nuke raising up above the battlefield like a imitation of an ascending god as it abruptly stopped and started its slow plummet to earth.  
  
I clicked the radio on again and rested my chin against the soft arm holster of the rifle.  
  
"I'll provide cover fire you guys just keep running!" I yelled into the reciever to make sure they heard me correctly.  
  
"Affirmative!" "Rogar! Rogar!" "That's a go Commander!"  
  
They all started to say as they ran.  
  
The nuke was getting closer now and I had to make the way out.  
  
I peered into the scope found a target and squeezed the trigger.  
  
BANG!  
  
The gun made such a loud bang that it would have made my eardrum explode if it wasn't for my earplugs.  
  
The bullet was a large one indeed about three inches wide with a 10 inch length, with the tip sharpened to provide maximun armor penetration. It lived up to its name as the Scharfrichter, or the Executioner as the bullet connected with the zergling splitting it head in two as the bullet cut through its thick hide like a hot knife through butter spraying its blood before it finally died.  
  
I looked into my scope again and was just in time to see one of my men get jumped by a zergling with it landing on his back.  
  
I squeezed the trigger.  
  
BANG!  
  
The gun sent some dust flying up as it made its path through just above the gorund into the zergling left eye once gain spraying its blood through the whole as it fell down dead allowing my men to pull the other from out from under the zergling before they started running again.  
  
I took my sight away from the scope and looked up into the sky from the hill I situated myself on with three guys all around me so as not to let anything ruin my shots.  
  
The nuke came down on the battlefield right in the middle of the zerg.  
  
"HIT THE DECK!" The shouted before I ran a few paces then throw myself against the ground as the nuke hit.  
  
BOOOOM!!!  
  
The earth rocked beneath us as the nuke delivered its heavy payload throwing dust and chunks of earth everywhere creating a massive crater until it tranformed into a mushroom cloud which loomed over the battlefield.  
  
20 seconds.  
  
.  
  
10 seconds.  
  
.  
  
Safe. I looked up to see that a good size of the land was obliterated and many trees knocked over or vaporized.  
  
I thought we had won before I heard a terrible screech in the air before zerg started to run out of the flame the nuke had caused, another air piercing screech as I turned around to find several mutalisks flying towards us.  
  
"NOOOO!" I shouted at them as I jumped down to my rifle and started firing at the oncoming fray.  
  
My men got the idea as they charged the zerg again and started firing some from behind and some firing at the oncoming masses with me as I kept pulling the trigger, making one of the massive bullets from the rifle shoot out from the right side of the gun as I reloaded it keeping my eye in the scope.  
  
"Argh! Commander!" I heard a shout of pain beside me as I took a glance and saw one of my men holding his midsection trying futily to remove a gigantic mutalisk spike that lodged itself in his midsection and shot out of his back shattering his ribcage.  
  
"ARGH!!!" The man shouted as his coughed up some blood trying to remove the spike.  
  
'This isn't right, we can't beat them.' I was thinking as I looked at the wound the man had.  
  
"All personnal regroup with the others! We can't beat them like this!" I shouted to my men beside me firing and the radio in my shoulder armor.  
  
My men didn't give me an affirmative but just started running towards the base.  
  
I heard a sound like the sound of heavy rain falling on cool metal while your inside and instantly I rolled to the side behind a tree before the ground all around me was pierced with many spikes.  
  
"Argh!" One of my retreating men shouted as he fell to the ground the spike that pierced his spine killing him instantly.  
  
"DAMNIT!" I shouted as I rolled back to my rifle gripping the heavy handle and firing into the fray of oncoming mutalisks, there blood merely sparring me on and I shouted curses at them.  
  
"MOTHER FUCKEN PIECES OF SHIT!!!EAT THIS!!!ARRRRGGGHHHH!!!" I switched the rifles settings to automatic as the one shot power gun went automatic cutting up everything in its way, each bullet exiting from the barrels with a BANG! Before the shell got spat out only to be replaced with another.  
  
I struggled to control the gun in my hand as it shook terribly from the power it was emitting.  
  
It was worth it though as the bullets that did connect with the mutalisks cut through them easily piercing there thick hides before spraying there blood everywhere killing them. I surrounding trees weren't so lucky as the stray rounds and the rounds that still had power in them pierced through them as well splitting some in half and completely destroying others.  
  
"AHH!" I cried out in surprise as the barrel overheated and exploded from the sheer force each bullet was giving out sending me flying a few feet back to the slope behind me landing on the back armor of my ghosts uniform as the dome like back shield acted as a sled as I slid several feet before I tipped downwards a little and started sliding down the hill on my back.  
  
I couldn't stop as the speed I was sliding was to much for me to turn myself around, I felt the stomping of feet on the ground as I looked back up the hill to see several zergling coming down the hill after me.  
  
"SHIT!!!" I yelled as I drew two silver desert eagles I keep on my hips and aimed them both at the oncoming zerg firing the powerful magnum rounds knocking some on there feet and killing some instantly as the bullet pierced there eye through there brain.  
  
Abruptly my head hit something hard which made my stop completey, but that didn't matter as I continued firing at the charging zerg.  
  
Both of my guns clicked empty, as I rolling backwards over the small hill that stopped my descent and reloaded my guns as I ran in the opposite direction from the zerg.  
  
'Shit, shit! shit! shit! shit! shit! shit!' Was all I could think as I heard the pounding feet of the zerg behind me catching up slowly.  
  
"COMMANDER, GET DOWN!" I heard a shouted in front of me as I spotted all of my remaining men emerge from the hastily made dirt base they erected all pointing there guns behind me as I leaped and twisted around in mid air both my guns pointing behind me as I landed against the hill they made just under their rifles.  
  
With me out of the way and me having cover fire we all started pumping the lead into the line of zerglings charging at us making them scream in pain as the searing hot metal pierced and tore through there small bodys, While me and my men were shouting cursing and screaming out bloody murder at them as they were finally at gunpoint before the last zergling fell landing in my lap.  
  
All my men were still as the sound of the last zergling scream was heard, and the sound of my empty guns clicked soundlessly against the head of a zergling.  
  
Click Click Click Click  
  
I stopped pulling the trigger as the adrenline high wore off, one of my guns pressed into the zerg on my lap were several gaping holes could be seen deforming its head.  
  
I pushed off the dead zerg and stood survaying the scene in front of us.  
  
For at least 100 feet in front of us were nothing but dead zergling with bullet holes in each of them.  
  
I turned and looked at my men each of them covered with the sickly purple blood of the zerg there armor heavily damaged and lots with numerous cuts along there faces and arms.  
  
I must have looked wild as well cause I could feel the crusted blood all over me.  
  
"S-Sir?" One of them said hestiantly as he stood up.  
  
"Yes?" I said as I turned around and looked over the bodies again, some terren mostly zerg.  
  
"What do we do now?" He asked as I focused my attention on my other gun that must have been knocked away just behind him that cartridge empty as well.  
  
"We can't go back until we get a pick up from the dropships, so look through the bodies and collect all the dogtags, leave none of them behind." I said as I started walking into the mass collection of bodies, twitching as I felt a pain in my hand as I reached up into my shoulder armor and produced a small pack of cigarettes, sticking one into my mouth and lighting it with one hand absently.  
  
"Yes sir." Was all he said simply before they all started.  
  
***Present***  
  
So here I rest sitting in the middle of this slaughter puffing this cigarette and wondering if we finsihed them all off.  
  
My radio crackled to life.  
  
"Commander?? C_Commander can you H-Hear me?" A staticy voice asked as I pressed the reply button down.  
  
"Yeah I can." I said simply as I looked up at the dropships that were flying overhead scooping up the ones that could walk and landing for the ones who were injured.  
  
"We did it, Commander. All known Zerg anomilys have been cleared off of Tarsonis. Lets go home." The female voice said as the radio cut off.  
  
I tilted my head back again as I smiled.  
  
'Home.? That's sounds like a good idea. Lets go home.' With that thought I flicked away my smoke, hearing the footsteps of an approaching ghost.  
  
"Sir, all dogtags have been collected we lost some in the blast but we collected as much as we can, what are your orders?" The soldier asked simply as it took of the ghosts helmet letting the purple flow freely down the neck into the protective backing of the uniform.  
  
I looked at the soldier for a moment then stood up and smiled.  
  
"Lets go home." I said as I felt my consciousness leave me as everything turned black, forcing the soldier to catch me as I fell.  
  
The soldier looked at Crono for a bit before smiling and giggling.  
  
"Lets go home, Crono." Said Lucca as she hefted him over her shoulder and started to walk towards the dropship.  
  
End of chapter 1 


End file.
